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I am soliciting last minute pedal opinions on my piece, if anyone has any thoughts. It's Arietta op 1 no 1, on page one of your Dover Book. I wish I was savvy enough to post the chunk in question.

Measures 5-8 can be particularly muddy, if you're not careful. How would you do it? Hold for 2 measures? After each quarter in the bass line? Half pedal? Whole pedal? I've even considered after the first quarter of the melody in measures 6 and 8.

Just curious!

Looking at the score I would try pedalling on the quarter notes. I'd try actually playing it to test my theory, but I'd be doing it so slowing it wouldn't sound right anyway. I listened to a few recordings by some very proficient pianists and it sounded to my ears as though the pedalling was very light- "on and off" -- but ...I could be mistaken.

_________________________ ABF Recitals 18-44Another thing you learn along the way is that the music will still be there when you are ready for it. There's no reason to rush. JimF

Hi folks, There has been further progress since the last list of confirmed pieces, so here's an update:

Firstly, GREAT NEWS! Beric has now taken the last remaining untaken piece: Op 68:6 Melancholy Waltz. Thank you.

Secondly, there are still 3 people who have not yet confirmed they will be doing their piece(s). So if this applies to you, think of it as a 'final call'!

If we don't hear from these people very soon, their pieces will be offered to others, and we need to think about understudies. We'll let you know what happens in a couple of days or so, so watch this space! In the meantime, please ask yourself if you would be willing to help by being an understudy, if this were needed.

- I'm happy to take on Sylph, but in order to encourage as many participants to this recital as possible rather than a few of us monopolising a selection for themselves, if a newcomer should want to grab it at any time in the next couple of weeks (before I start working on it!!) â€“ please do help yourself.

Of course, Iâ€™m only acting as understudy (as would anyone else at this stage) weâ€™re all counting on niluh01 to make a dramatic entrance!

Well damn! Excuse my language, but. You know how playing a second piece by a composer will give you insight to another piece by them? Yes, learning Op 38 no 8 has changed my outlook on Op 71 no 7. I was so nervous about creating a video for the first time that I rushed to record the Op 71. And now I am so very not happy with my submission.

I think I am going to brush Op 71 no 7 back up and do another take. I hate how not having played it, it has decayed under my fingers. But, it's short and fairly easy. So, I have no excuse. I won't delete the original recording and link to it until I have a recording worthy to replace it. But, pretty sure I'll be making that happen. I have really enjoyed working on Canon Op 38 no 8! It's a very pretty piece that I can't get out of my head most times.

Well, yesterday's recording of the August Quarterly Recital went well. I hope I can get these two Grieg pieces recorded quite soon. Not quite the rush on these as with the August 15th deadline. Good practice today. So, I have hopes to have a better Op 71 no 7 in me.

I`m sure it`ll go well for you. I recorded my two some time ago; not perfect, they never will be. I put in an extra half bar on one of `em. But the music demanded a certain atmosphere. I tried hard for that.

Grieg`s stuff is fantastic. So glad I`m doin` these. And my third piece, if I get to play it, is the best. Fingers are dropping off . . .

Ok folks - just so you know, when we come to do the recital, we'll be setting up a separate thread for it - because it is likely to become HUGE (just like the Mendelssohn recital which only had around 2/3rd the number of pieces and approx 20 fewer participants).

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS?During the Mendelssohn recital, one opus per day was published on the thread, and then people made comments about people's performances, so the performances and the comments about them were together. This meant that the thread got quite long, and if anyone just wanted to listen to the pieces, they had to scroll down through these comments to find them. It has been suggested that for this recita, the recital thread contain JUST the pieces, with no comments at all (these would need to be on a separate thread). Do you like this idea, or would you prefer the recital recordings and comments to be on the same thread, just like with the Mendelssohn?

Helen

PS Sadly, Ellec is unable to perform her piece, so Sailor's Song is available once more. PLEASE will one of you take it!?

If you have one thread per opus the number of pieces viewed and discussed will be manageable (4-7). You won't get an overgrown nightmare of overlapping discussions.

In addition, if someone later on wants to go back and comment on an earlier opus, that won't be a distraction. They'll be putting their comments in the appropriate thread. Each thread will remain readable since the pieces under discussion are a well-specified grouping.

Lastly, they could all be titled in a way that draws the eye, but shows the differences .... i.e.

PS Sadly, Ellec is unable to perform her piece, so Sailor's Song is available once more. PLEASE will one of you take it!?

Hi Dipsy,

I am willing to try this piece if there is no one else to take it. Not sure how well I can learn it in the time available. My other piece is not ready yet either so they would both be works-in-progress. My main concern with this piece is that the big chords in the RH will aggravate the arthritis in my wrist. So if there is someone else who wants to play this piece, I'll happily hand it off. But in the mean time I will start practicing it.

Long ago when Rostosky was in charge I offered to work with him to use the ABF quarterly recital software. The submissions are handled by the performers - the person running the recital just presents it at the end. It's a lot less work with everything automated.

The only drawback is no control over the order - it's whatever order the performers submit in. So the grand scheme of organizing sequentially by opus would be hard to arrange. It could be done though, with each opus leader submitting the pieces for that opus one after the other. But that is not taking advantage of the usefulness of the software, which distributes the work load and puts the responsibility on the performer.

Just a suggestion - Rostosky wanted to do things his own way, so we never worked out the details.

The question folks was about whether to include comments in the recital thread, or have them separate! (The opleds have already had a debate( by PM) on whether to have a single thread or a thread per opus, and the discussion went the way of having a single thread).

The question folks was about whether to include comments in the recital thread, or have them separate! (The opleds have already had a debate( by PM) on whether to have a single thread or a thread per opus, and the discussion went the way of having a single thread).

VALENCIA THANK YOU SO MUCH - for offering to take on sailor's song

Then I vote for a separate comments thread. That way it's easier to navigate between the videos.

The question folks was about whether to include comments in the recital thread, or have them separate! (The opleds have already had a debate( by PM) on whether to have a single thread or a thread per opus, and the discussion went the way of having a single thread).

VALENCIA THANK YOU SO MUCH - for offering to take on sailor's song

Any possibility of reopening that issue? Perhaps the PM debate didn't reach the best conclusion?

Or at least offer some reason why it's positively better to have one growing thread that has people talking about the current opus while other people reach back much earlier to comment on things that were already commented on days or weeks earlier when the opus first came out.

PianoDad, Sam, Morodiene and everyone else - hold fire a bit (on the one thread/many threads discussion). I've had an idea but need to check it out - will get back to you on this once I've checked the options and discussed with opleds.

Leaving aside the question of how many threads and what should be on each thread: Sam S, I appreciate the thoughtfulness of offering the recital software. For me, I really really reallyREALLY like that the pieces in the themed recital come out in order, so for that reason I prefer that the pieces in each opus are collected and posted in order. I understand what you say about using the Recital software instead: that the strength of the Recital software would be to distribute the workload even more, out to the participants. But the drawback of pieces being out of order makes the idea of using the Recital software to be a complete non-starter for me. I appreciate the work done by the person/people who will do the collecting and posting, and I think it's a valuable part of making the themed recitals so meaningful.

Thanks Morodiene. All the opleds are considering the issue and we'll get back to you all as soon as possible....

Quote:

[/quote] from Sam:Long ago when Rostosky was in charge I offered to work with him to use the ABF quarterly recital software. The submissions are handled by the performers - the person running the recital just presents it at the end. It's a lot less work with everything automated...Just a suggestion - Rostosky wanted to do things his own way, so we never worked out the details.[quote]

Sam, I agree with PianoStudent88 though there's no denying that this software has big advantages when things don't have to be done in a particular order.

However, doing this recital in the way we are, having team leaders for each opus, for example, also allows people to get to know each other better, give support and contribute their own skills if they want to get more involved. Its a different animal to the other recitals on PW I think, with more of the human touch and a feeling of working together towards a common goal.

BTW: I believe Rossy just decided to stick with the method/software he was comfortable with, and had already decided how to publish the recital. No offence was intended, I'm sure. Taking account of your suggestion might have seemed like adding a stressful element to things.

After 6 weeks of absence I'm finally back at my piano. Bit of a chock, really. My fingers are pretty stiff and I have difficulties with trilling with the 4th and 5th finger while holding notes with 1st and 2nd. I really hope that my hands and fingers will become more flexible very soon. I have signed up for three pieces and one of them I haven't played for years. And probably I have to complete my recordings this week. So this is going to be interesting. Maybe a bit too interesting, I'm afraid....

After 6 weeks of absence I'm finally back at my piano. Bit of a chock, really. My fingers are pretty stiff and I have difficulties with trilling with the 4th and 5th finger while holding notes with 1st and 2nd. I really hope that my hands and fingers will become more flexible very soon. I have signed up for three pieces and one of them I haven't played for years. And probably I have to complete my recordings this week. So this is going to be interesting. Maybe a bit too interesting, I'm afraid....

Yikes. I'd be stressed out!

Something that might help with the flexibility is doing a hot wax treatment on your hands. Yes, it sounds odd, I know - but it helped me at one point.

You probably need a helper, unless you do one hand at a time. You obviously have to be careful that the wax isn't **TOO** hot - but truly, not only is this very soothing, your hands feel really relaxed and happy afterwards.

_________________________ ABF Recitals 18-44Another thing you learn along the way is that the music will still be there when you are ready for it. There's no reason to rush. JimF